Beyond the Sky
by Ulysses Quanta
Summary: Atra and Akatsuki pay a visit to the memorial for the fallen members of Tekkadan. AU.


"Akatsuki!"

The boy in question looked up from his Graze action figure and looked at his mother, who was standing in the doorway.

"Come on, Akatsuki. We're going out."

Akatsuki's eyes lit up and he stood up from where he had been kneeling by his bed, walking over to Atra, who was holding his coat and shoes.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"We're going to visit some of our family," Atra explained. Akatsuki nodded before taking his coat and shoes and walking back to the bed to sit on it as he started putting his shoes on.

Atra watched Akatsuki as he got himself dressed. It didn't seem all that long ago that he was a little baby who spent all of his time sleeping, but now he was growing up. He'd learnt to tie his own shoes and dress himself recently, and the teachers had mentioned that he was excelling in classes in school. Despite his age, he was proving to be smarter beyond his years.

He was doing her proud.

Soon enough, Akatsuki was dressed and looking at her expectantly. Atra smiled at him. "Well done, Akatsuki!" she praised him. He nodded and smiled at her before he suddenly dashed out of the room, causing her to walk out after him, reminding him to slow down so he didn't trip and hurt himself.

By the time she had found where he had run off to, he was standing with the bouquet of flowers in his hand, waiting for her to get the keys to the car so they could get going. She sighed and smiled at him, and he smiled back, before she grabbed a pen and a piece of paper to write a note for Kudelia in case she came by while they were out.

"Went to leave flowers at the memorial..." Atra whispered as she wrote it down, before putting the pen down and grabbing her car keys and the keys to the house. Walking out after Akatsuki, she closed the door and locked it before unlocking the car. Akatsuki opened the door and scrambled into the seat next to the driver's seat and was already buckled in by the time Atra had sat in the car and closed the door.

Her kid was definitely a smart kid.

The road to the memorial was a long one, but Atra swore it felt shorter every time she had to drive down it. Akatsuki was quiet usually on the journey to the memorial, but today he was asking questions.

"Mum?" Akatsuki asked. "Do you think Mr Biscuit will want to hear about how school is going?"

"I'm sure he will, Akatsuki," she reassured him.

"I think Mr Shino will want to hear about Mr Yamagi helping you fix the car, too."

"I think he will as well."

Akatsuki asked a few more questions, wondering if Akihiro and Hush would want to hear about his epic battle involving his toy car and his Graze figures, and Atra answered them the best she could, reassuring them that they would want to hear about his stories.

Eventually, they arrived at the memorial. Atra parked up her car and the two of them got out and walked over to the entrance to memorial. Akatsuki looked at his mother curiously as she looked at the memorial. It was ominous, and reminded her of those days...

"Mum?" Atra looked down at her son and smiled at him, before opening the gate to let him walk through.

After the final battle, some of the survivors had returned to the memorial to add the names of those who had fallen to the list already on the memorial. Some of the others, like Yamagi and Cookie and Cracker, regularly visited to leave flowers for them in memory of them. Walking towards them, Atra noticed a somewhat fresh bouquet, indicating one of them had visited somewhat recently.

Akatsuki looked to Atra again, nervously asking for permission to lay the flowers down and talk to them. She nodded, and he carefully walked over to in front of the memorial, and gently laid the flowers down next to the bouquet already there. Walking around the bouquets, he knelt at the side of the memorial, and started talking about how school was going.

It was a habit Akatsuki had started when he was younger. A few years ago, he had asked who they were, and she had explained that they used to be a part of their family, but they had given up everything so they and the others could be here. She'd suggested that he tell them about the toy train he had gotten for his birthday, and ever since then, whenever they came by to leave the flowers, he would tell them what had happened since they had last visited.

Atra watched on as Akatsuki continued talking to them about his car's fight against the Grazes, a small smile forming on her face, until she felt a hand clasp hers.

"Sorry I'm late. Kudelia's meeting went on longer than I thought."

Atra turned to see the man stood next to her. His raven black hair was shorter than it had been years ago, but his blue eyes still shone with the same radiance.

"It's fine. I think Akatsuki's telling Shino about Yamagi helping us with the car," she explained to her husband.

"Oh." Mikazuki looked over at Akatsuki, who gave him a smile and a wave before turning back to the memorial. "It's odd. Being here, knowing they aren't with us."

Atra nodded. "But we know they are always with us, and with the others too, right?"

Mika looked at Atra and nodded. "The old man told me something once. That Orga and Akihiro and the others are always watching over us, just beyond the sky."

"Beyond the sky?" Atra looked up at the sky above them, the sun setting causing orange streaks to arc across the sky. "I like that idea. That they are watching over us up there."

Mikazuki nodded. The two stood there for a while, looking at the sky as the sun continued to set, before Akatsuki wandered over to them. "Mom, dad?" he asked, causing them to look at him. "I told Mr Akihiro about the battle."

Mikazuki gave him a small smile, letting go of Atra's hand to ruffle Akatsuki's hair. "That's good," he told him. "I think he enjoyed hearing it."

"Really?" Akatsuki looked at Mikazuki happily as he nodded. Mikazuki nodded, causing him to smile.

"Akatsuki, are you ready to go?" Atra asked him. He nodded, and gently took hold of her hand, reaching his other hand out to Mikazuki, who also took hold of it gently.

Hand in hand, Mikazuki, Atra and Akatsuki walked away of the memorial, taking comfort in the knowledge that their friends were watching over them.

...

 _Author's Note: So, this fic was inspired by a piece of fanart I saw on Reddit. I listened to Beyond the Sky from the Xenoblade Chronicles OST while writing this, so go check that song out. It's an AU with the diverging point being that Mikazuki didn't get crippled fighting Hashmal and survived the final battle._

 _I hope you enjoyed this fic. Be sure to review and tell me what you thought!_

 _Link for the fanart (remove the spaces): h t t p s / www . reddit . com / r / Gundam / comments / 9lwcx3 / heres_some_wholesome_fan_art /_


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